Newcastle United have confirmed that Argentinian international Christian Bassedas has yet to complete his protracted loan deal to Tenerife.

Newcastle United have confirmed that Argentinian international Christian Bassedas has yet to complete his protracted loan deal to Tenerife.

However, Magpies' officials are confident the move will go ahead within the next 48 hours and the midfielder will be free to make his debut against Celta Vigo on Sunday.

Bassedas has been training with the Canaries club for the last 10 days but the current political upheaval in his home country has caused a delay in key documents reaching Primera Liga officials.

Those documents are expected to be released today and Bassedas emphasised: "It has nothing to do with my passport because I have played for more than a year with it in England and there were no problems.

"Tenerife are confident everything will be fixed in time for the weekend but it is hard to focus on the football when I am not yet free to play.

"When I do get the go-ahead to play I will be doing my best to prevent their relegation. It doesn't matter how we play as long as we win the necessary games."

Tenerife officials are just as confident as their Newcastle counterparts that Bassedas will finally become their player at the weekend and a spokesman insisted: "There is no problem between the clubs or ourselves and Christian. It is an administrative problem in Argentina, but it is a problem we will overcome."

Bassedas is desperate to establish himself in the Tenerife side in time for next month's visit of Barcelona and he aims to make the most of his five-month stay in Spain before returning to Tyneside in July.

Meanwhile, United have yet to confirm reports which surfaced on Monday that the club has lodged a £4m bid for Nottingham Forest youngster Jermaine Jenas.

The 18-year-old has been watched by Magpies' staff on a number of occasions this season after he rose to prominence in a midfield featuring another Newcastle target, David Prutton.

Jenas has overtaken Prutton as Forest's hottest property this season, but the cash-strapped First Division club value their prize asset at £5m.